WootBot

Nothing beats wine advice from an experienced taster. But what if you're just stumbling into the wine game? Wouldn't it help to get a gut-level gut-check from a n00b's gut? That's the thinking behind our new series of Pro-Am Tasting Invitational. Our first subject is today's Expression 44° Pinot Noir Willamette Valley Oregon - 2 Pack. Alison Smith of Wine Country Connect will provide the tasting notes with actual expertise behind them, while Jason Toon will provide the (let's say) outsider perspective. We'll let you decide which one speaks to you.

Part one: Alison "TexaCali Ali" Smith says...

Tonight's Expression 44 tasting was a great excuse to cook a welcome home dinner for my main-squeeze who spent the last few weeks in the Loire Valley & Germany. Riesling is his first love, but you know what they say, the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, so tonight's dinner was a bit more fancy than my usual Tuesday-night-after-yoga meal of bird-feed (and wine). Here's how dinner and wine went down tonight in Cali (with the game sounding off in the background of course - GO MAVS!)...

9pm: Dinner was served. I chose beef over the usual pork and duck pairings for Pinot Noir. I know Oregon Pinots can most always handle a steak. In fact, one of the best filet mignon pairings I've ever had was with a 2005 Lange Estate Freedom Hill Pinot Noir at III Forks in Austin, Texas. DELICIOUS!

Dessert: Époisses de Bourgogne, a cow's milk cheese made in the village Époisses found in Côte-d'Or, Burgundy. My very favorite cheese to pair with Pinor Noir. I cut a wedge at 5:58pm - before I opened the wines to make sure it would be perfectly oozing by the end of dinner. Right on! It tastes like rich butter, a hit of hay and nuts. I prefer the Roserock Pinot with this. Might have to sneak a bite of chocolate in with the other.

So, would I drink these again? OH YEAH! Both wines should be cellared for a few years. I'd give the Roserock a shot in about 7 years to experience the true elegance of this vineyard. I'm happy about this Black Tie Buy, Expression 44 Pinots from Oregon are right on their mark and would make a great addition to both new and old collections. I am sending a few out as gifts for sure! Cheers - TexaCali Ali

Part Two: Jason Toon says...

You know that feeling you get when you experience something that is clearly a cut above what you're used to, even if you can't totally articulate how? Like riding in a Jaguar with leather upholstery, or watching a ballgame from the box seats when you usually sit in the upper deck? That was my first impression of the Expression 44° Pinot Noir. While the white-label (Expression 44° Pinot Noir, Eola-Amity Hills) and the single-vineyard black-label (Expression 44° Pinot Noir Roserock Vineyards Eola–Amity Hills) versions had their differences, each projects that immediate smoothness and complexity that says "Hey, who let this guy drink me?"

At first whiff, white-label came across as friendly and laid-back, almost shy, with a hint of something that reminded me of chocolate milk. The black-label was the more uptight, insistent, and fruitier of the two, conjuring images of angry blackberries. Since we're a one-decanter household and I didn't want to give either wine an unfair advantage, I just let the bottles sit while we inhaled our gourmet repast of broccoli and Kraft mac 'n' cheese. (Why, yes, I do have kids. How did you guess?)

After 90 minutes or so, they seemed ready to taste - and even if they weren't, I was. The white label had gotten over its shyness, proclaiming "I have tannins! Hear me roar!" That chocolate-milk lushness was still hanging around, but in the company of some woody, fruity, earthy business. If you could rip up a mulberry bush, roots and all, and wring out its essence into a glass, it would taste something like this.

Its black-label cousin, meanwhile, had mellowed out from my first aromatic impression. The air had brought out more of a plummy, cherry character, reminding me of the little dab of jam in the middle of those pinwheel cookies. Generally, I didn't find it as pushy on the tongue as it was on the nose.

Now, as I'm sure you can tell, I don't know enough about wine to know whether these two would be improved by cellaring, or how they relate to other vintages of Expression 44° Pinot Noir, or how they relate to other Willamette PNs. But I will say that on the whole, these two were much subtler and more complex than my mental image of Pinot Noir. Maybe that says more about me than about these wines, but in any case, two tongues up over here.

We hope you found at least half of this little exercise informative. See you in the next thrilling Wine.Woot Pro-Am Tasting Invitational!

texacaliali

Both wines have no been opened for 26 hours. Re-corked and sitting in the fridge throughout the night, then out on my kitchen counter all day (1.5 hour car ride too).

No food tonight while tasting.

They are both tasting very consistent with the 2nd tasting note of last night. Still very well structured, with a bit more tea leaf and mineral coming out of the Roserock. No fooling, these are "mindful" pinot noirs, I appreciate the elegance and complexity found in each. If I had to compare them to a burgundy, stylistically they lean more towards the pinots of Nuits-Saint-Georges.

Woot.com is operated by Woot Services LLC.
Products on Woot.com are sold by Woot, Inc., other than items on Wine.Woot which are sold by the seller specified on the product detail page.
Product narratives are for entertainment purposes and frequently employ
literary point of view;
the narratives do not express Woot's editorial opinion.
Aside from literary abuse, your use of this site also subjects you to Woot's
terms of use
and
privacy policy.
Woot may designate a user comment as a Quality Post, but that doesn't mean we agree with or guarantee anything said or linked to in that post.